Pro-gov’t daily sets up hotline for informing on Gülen followers in EU


Date posted: June 21, 2017

The pro-government Sabah daily’s Europe edition, Sabah Avrupa, has set up a telephone line for its readers to report followers of the faith-based Gülen movement, against which Turkish authorities launched a witch hunt over its alleged involvement in a failed coup last summer.

On its front page on Tuesday, Sabah Avrupa published a telephone number for its readers to call to report Gülen followers and said: “FETO report line. Traitor FETÖ members. Don’t think we have forgotten you! To our readers in Europe: Report those traitors [Gülen followers] who tyrannized you and we will uncover them.”

FETÖ is a derogatory term used by government circles to refer to the Gülen movement.

Earlier In February, German police teams raided the apartments of four Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB) imams in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate who were suspected of acting as informants. The coordinator of DİTİB, mainly supported by the Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), Murat Kayman, announced his resignation over the allegations.

The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (GBA) said in a statement that the imams had acted on an order issued on Sept. 20 of last year by the directorate to profile Gülen movement sympathizers.

In December 2016, Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens announced that he had ordered security and intelligence units in the country to closely monitor mosques operated by the Diyanet amid reports that the directorate had asked imams to spy and inform on Belgians of Turkish origin suspected of being active in the faith-based Gülen movement.

Despite repeated statements by US-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, whose views inspired the movement, and Gülen-linked institutions abroad denying involvement in the failed coup, followers of the movement have been subjected to harassment, discrimination and even assault by pro-government people.

Several Gülen sympathizers working in Gülen-linked institutions were handed over to Turkish authorities after being detained by local police in several countries as part of the Turkish government’s witch-hunt against the Gülen movement overseas.

Source: Turkish Minute , June 21, 2017

Tags: | | |


Related News

Top union: Closing prep schools to leave 60,000 jobless

Turkey’s largest business confederation, the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), has said a government plan to shut down private exam preparatory schools (dershanes) will leave an estimated 60,000 teachers at these institutions jobless while causing financial losses to investors.

Samanyolu high school wins gold medal in TÜBİTAK contest

Samanyolu Science High School students Sadık Said Kasap and Onur Sulak won the gold medal among 24 final contenders whose work was chosen out of 1,156 projects. Kasap and Sulak stated that they had been working on their project for the last eight months and that they had striven to make a contribution to the world of mathematics.

Land tender won by TUSKON reopened in defiance of court decision

The tender for a large parcel of land which was won by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) was reopened on Monday, despite a prior court decision barring such a move, according to a statement from the confederation on the same day.

Scapegoating: Turkish PM again blames Gülen movement for worsening economy

As the Turkish lira plunged even further on Friday, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım claimed the Gülen movement was responsible for the deterioration in the country’s economic outlook. According to Yıldırım, “separatists” and sympathizers of the Gülen movement are working hard to ruin the Turkish economy in the eyes of the world.

Another Hizmet-affiliated school targeted by AK Party

The Antalya Metropolitan Municipality City Council decided on Tuesday to change the structural plan of a Hizmet-affiliated school that has been operating in the Muratpaşa district of Antalya since 1996, canceling its registration and paving the way for the destruction of the building that houses the school.

Brazilian Intellectuals and Artists Defend Turk against Demands for Extradition to Turkey

A group of Brazilian intellectuals and artists wrote a public letter defending the Turkish naturalized Brazilian Ali Sipahi, who has been imprisoned since the Turkish government, led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, requested to extradite him.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Winds of friendship were enjoyed in different parts of Turkey during the month of Muharram

Class-B shareholders join objection against Asya decision

Bank Asya shares skyrocket after trading resumes

Why is the Turkish PM Erdoğan having difficulty?

Bolu municipality builds road inside Hizmet affiliated Fatih College’s garden

Bank Asya weathers withdrawals, says CEO

Did PKK change its view of religious movements?

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News